Deep Trouble
by Okura
Summary: You wanted more, you got more! It's a little darker and more violent than the first, but not to a huge extent. Please read and review!
1. Beached Messenger

Chapter One  
  
Beached Messenger  
  
A calm sunny day on the shores of N. Sanity Beach was proving to be an absolute treat for everyone who lived now in the house of Crash and Coco. Deciding to briefly relax from their last battle, the crew had all agreed on a picnic down at the beach for a break.  
  
The snoring was heard from Crash Bandicoot as he lay out in the shade of a palm tree, sand clinging to his orange fur, some of which was blackened slightly still from their last mission.  
  
Coco Bandicoot lay nearby as she hacked away at her pink laptop computer, debugging a few programs of hers. Maintaining the power of the Time Weaver was not an easy task. It requires constant care or else the power of the machine could tear it-self apart.  
  
Polar the polar bear cub and Pura the tiger cub were both busy splashing about in the lower tide and playing tag with one another. Neither seemed to care about much other than their own games.  
  
Baby T, or Tina the tyrannosaur hatchling was digging about the nearby logs and bushes at the jungle's edge, searching for small creatures. Whenever she did, she would quickly wolf it down before it got a chance to escape.  
  
And the two newest friends, the dragon twins Scorch and Spark were taking Crash's idea of snoozing, although the blue and pink dragons were sitting out in the sunshine. Since they had been brought back, Coco and Crash had noticed their true personalities.  
  
Scorch liked to be in control. He had a thing about being the leader and bossing others about. He did know his limits, but he was at his most happy whence he was the authority. He got along well with Tina more than Polar or Pura, but then again, he was a reptilian creature and so was she, while the other two were mammals.  
  
Spark was turning out to be quite a skittish creature, often sleeping on Coco's bed for comfort at night. She looked up to Scorch for protection most, but Coco was also someone Spark often turned to.  
  
Coco sighed as she typed in the last line of her debugging, saved and pressed the shutdown button. A sickening crunch was heard from behind and Coco turned to see Tina, with a rat's tail hanging out of her mouth, her jaws moving up and down. "Errgh," Coco moaned. "Do you really have to eat that in front of me?"  
  
Tina sucked in the tail and gave a hearty swallow and then licked her lips. "You are truly disgusting Tina," Coco shook her head as the young Rex giggled.  
  
Crash gave a loud yawn as he awoke from his nap, stretching out his arms before he sat up. "What's the racket about this time?" Crash asked as he blinked a few times to clear his eyes.  
  
"Your tyrannosaur decided to eat a live rat in front of me," Coco said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb.  
  
"Hey!" Tina protested. "It was dead by the time you turned around."  
  
"But I had to hear the crunch."  
  
"Hey! Whoa! Chill out girls!" Crash laughed. "There's no need to fight. I mean, what's the big deal anyway? Tina ate a rat near you, big deal! She'll be eating things so much larger when she's fully grown."  
  
Tina blinked.  
  
Coco whispered to Crash, "You don't intend to keep her that long do you? I mean, you saw what her father was like... What if she comes out like him?"  
  
Crash suddenly remembered the frightening encounter with Tina's father, Tyrannataur. The beast had tracked Crash across the land, after him. But, the brute made a mistake of attempting to follow them over a small pathway over an active volcano.  
  
The pathway had broken and Tyrannataur had fallen in. Tina did love her father, but did see his ending fit as he had endangered the entire world by giving into Uka-Uka.  
  
To answer that, Crash had no idea. Did he intend to keep any of the animals that long? Polar's father Bearminator was brutal and strong, but he'd been frozen solid when Cortex's Ice Age Machine exploded and then was believed to have been shattered when the base came crashing down.  
  
And Pura's mother, Tigeress had been a real nasty piece of work. She'd attacked them many times, playing cat and mouse, waiting for the perfect chance to attack. When she'd decided the time to kill them, she'd slipped and fell down a hole for Cortex's drilling rig, seconds before it was activated.  
  
And as for Inferno, Scorch and Spark's father, he had hunted them down and attempted to kill Crash. He even attacked Scorch, his own young one to get at Crash. He met his end when Crash dropped the portcullis down on his neck... an accident for Crash had only wanted to knock him out, not kill him.  
  
How would they cope whence the animals grew larger? Would they have to abandon them or send them away or what? Crash didn't want to think of that.  
  
"Hey look!" Polar called out, he and Pura having paused the game to gaze out to sea. Scorch and Spark awoke to look out, while Crash, Coco and Tina turned and gazed out to the water.  
  
There was a pod of dolphins out there, but it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before with dolphins that lived in these waters. A strange yellow harness sat on their body, smoothly made to match their bodies' natural flow. It looked like some sea snakes had clung to the body, their tails joining in the end.  
  
But there was a dolphin, just like the others, only a lighter color, which was seeming to try and escape the others. But, the other dolphins were faster and had the dolphin encircled and where viciously beating it up with their snouts.  
  
"That's horrible," Coco gasped as she watched the dolphin struggle to escape, only to be brutally smashed again and again. Her face screwed up in torment and anger. "I'm gonna stop it now!"  
  
"What?" Crash asked, stunned as his sister blew past him.  
  
Running down the beach a bit, Coco found her WaveRunner Jet Ski. Its awesome lime green and yellow colorings glinted in the sun as she dragged into the water. Ignoring the cries from Crash and the others, she leapt onto the vehicle and jetted out towards the group of dolphins, bouncing through the waves.  
  
"Stop it! All of you!" Coco called out as she approached the aggressive mammals.  
  
The attacking dolphins froze and turned to her, as the injured one managed to slip away, towards the shore where Crash and the others were. "It's one of them!" one of the dolphins cried out in mirth, its eyes full of evil glee.  
  
"Get her!" another shrieked.  
  
Suddenly, two dolphins smashed into her Jet Ski from behind and Coco was launched into the water where the dolphins were, with a startled squeal and then a splash. Submerged under the surface, Coco frantically attempted to paddle to the surface, but the dolphins began to attack her, ramming her with their snouts and forcing her deeper still.  
  
Short on air, Coco began to weaken as aches appeared all over her body. She could not reach the surface, for these dolphins would not allow it. Her lungs were on fire and her bones felt brittle and weak.  
  
'This is it,' she thought. 'I'm not gonna make it...'  
  
She raised her arm as the dolphins continued to pummel her body, raising it towards the light, as she felt her life ebb away. Then, she felt something grip her arm. Summoning the last of her strength, she grasped as well and felt her-self being lifted upwards.  
  
Gasping sharply as she broke the surface, the be-ragged bandicoot glanced upwards, her soaked blonde hair flopped over her face. There was her brother, Crash, rigged into the Copter-Pack, the propeller blade spinning rapidly, pulling her above the waters below.  
  
Suddenly, the dolphins leapt up and grasped Coco's legs with their teeth. Coco screamed as the teeth dug into her flesh and she and Crash were pulled downwards, towards the surface.  
  
Then suddenly, they started to ascend once again. Coco glanced up to see Scorch and Spark holding onto Crash and helping drag him skywards. One by one, the dolphins realized they were now fighting a losing battle against the bandicoots and let go. Crash and Coco ascended, Scorch and Spark breaking free to fly off on their own accord. Underneath them, the angry dolphins chattered and screamed at them, seconds before they disappeared beneath the blue blanket of the surface.  
  
"Let's get you to land and Aku-Aku," Crash said as he looked at the bloody mess her legs were now in. He then used his free hand to push the control bars and pilot the pack back towards the shore.  
  
"That was very foolish of you Coco," the female bandicoot heard as soon as she touched the warm dry sand. Turning, she saw the mask Aku-Aku floating before her, a scowl that resembled that of Uka-Uka upon his face. Even his feathers seemed to portrait his anger. A beam of white light shone from his eyes, striking Coco and healing her torn legs. "You should know not to rush off alone, particularly into water. You know you don't stand much of a chance if you're in the water your-self and cannot escape."  
  
"Okay, okay," Coco protested as she ran her fingers through her hair, wringing out the water. "I screwed up okay.. But I had to help that dolphin.. What happened to it?"  
  
Crash, who had just finished detaching the Copter-Pack from his back, pointed to the beach, where Scorch, Spark, Polar, Pura and Tina were waiting. The dolphin had actually dragged it-self onto the beach to escape the other dolphins, but it was still where the water gently lapped its body to keep it moist. It was a female dolphin and seemed a little above middle aged.  
  
"Hey," Coco asked as she approached the dolphin. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah," the dolphin panted feebly.  
  
"What was going on out there?" Crash asked the dolphin. "And what's with this harness thing?"  
  
The dolphin took several shaky breaths through its blowhole. "Thank you for saving me... but it'll only be temporary... they'll still come for me."  
  
"Who?" Scorch asked as he used his wing to fling some more water onto the dolphin's body.  
  
"We are slaves," the dolphin panted. "They use us... Control our minds with these harnesses... I was able to escape but they saw me... and came after me."  
  
"But, who is doing this to you?" Coco asked as she knelt down next to the dolphin.  
  
"I don't know... All I know is that we are their slaves," the dolphin gasped. "They take our young away and we don't see them again... My daughter was taken and I don't know where she is... Please you have to help us..."  
  
"Of course we'll help," Aku-Aku answered softly. "What is your name?"  
  
"My name is Gleam... and my daughter is called..."  
  
"Look out!" Pura screamed as he rammed Coco out of harm's way as she stood next to the dolphin, the others tripping over their own feet in shock.  
  
Exploding from the water was a huge head, full of teeth. It grasped the body of Gleam gently in its mouth, the dolphin screaming out, "Help us! Help us all!"  
  
Then the massive black and white head of the killer whale retracted back into the water, an amoral chuckle heard from the beast as it and Gleam vanished beneath the waves.   
  
The gang sat on the beach, wondering in confusion what was going on. 


	2. Splitting Up

Chapter Two  
  
Splitting Up  
  
"Well I just checked out Papu-Papu and the natives," Aku-Aku said as he reappeared out of the jungle to the clearing where Crash and his friends were. "Apparently from what I overheard, they too have been having trouble with dolphins. But, there are also problems with sharks as well."  
  
"And that killer whale?" Coco asked, feeling most distraught for poor Gleam.  
  
"I heard something about a sea monster that the description matched a killer whale," Aku-Aku added.  
  
"M-m-monster?" Spark stuttered in fright.  
  
"They probably don't know what a killer are, they don't usually come near these islands at all." Coco suggested. "That killer whale must be pretty mad to be doing things like that."  
  
"What did Gleam say," Crash began. "About them being slaves because of those harnesses?"  
  
"She said that the harnesses controlled their minds," Coco said. "That's probably the reason for the sudden aggression of all these creatures."  
  
"Cortex," Crash suggested, hate on his voice. "It just has to be him. No-one else is that diabolical to do such an act."  
  
"Maybe so," Aku-Aku answered, his voice full of fret. "But in order to find out this mystery, you'll have to get to the bottom of it. Which is at the bottom of the sea..."  
  
Crash and Coco winced at this remark. Neither were very good swimmers and as far as they knew, there were no submarines that they had nicked from Cortex. Although...  
  
"We have that advanced scuba gear N. Gin was developing," Coco suggested. "You know, the one that extracts the oxygen from the water and also have those hydro pumps for added speed. Oh, and the voice communicators inside the masks."  
  
"But no weapons or protection," Crash added. "If a shark attacks us, we can't defend our-selves. And that killer whale, well... it could eat either of us in a single chomp."  
  
"I never said it would be easy, but it's the only chance we have," Coco defended.  
  
"Here we go again," Polar sighed as he sat down and began to pout. "We're gonna be left out of this adventure as well."  
  
"Well, I'm afraid we don't have a set of scuba gear for each of us," Coco said to the cub, giving his white fur a rub. "So what Crash? We go with that idea?"  
  
"Suppose we have no other choice," the bandicoot shrugged. "But its gonna be quite dangerous for the two of us down there without weapons."  
  
Coco nodded in agreement. "Let's get the gear and head back to the beach."  
  
Hiding behind a bush as he pulled down his jeans and pulled up his wetsuit pants, was Crash. Coco disappeared behind several trees opposite as she stripped completely bare before climbing into her full body wetsuit. Both bandicoots meet each other on the sand.  
  
Crash was without a top, but was wearing electric blue and yellow wetsuit pants. Coco was wearing a full body black and pink wet suit. There were two piles of scuba gear on the ground; one was blue and yellow, while the other was a bright pink.  
  
Coco lifted her mask and communicator to her and said, "Testing... one, two, three."  
  
Crash gave her the thumbs up to say he'd heard her through his own one. Lifting the heavy tanks onto his back, Crash secured the fastenings and tested the re-breather, before connecting it to the mask. It was working fine. Coco did the same and then pulled the mask over her face. It covered the entire face, not just the eyes.  
  
Once both were completely decked out, flippers in their paws, they turned to Aku and the others waiting a few feet away. "Good luck," the mask beamed upon them as the animals all smiled to them.  
  
"Well, let's go Crash," Coco's voice sounded static through the communicator.  
  
"I agree," he added as he paced towards the surf and then waded into the deeper water, pulling on his flippers before he disappeared underneath the surface, Coco mere seconds behind him.  
  
"This is quite odd," Coco mumbled through her mask as the two bandicoots slowly ghosted through the nearby coral reefs. The old charts in Cortex's Castle they'd once seen showed that impassable reefs separated the three islands, except at certain points. This mystery could be found almost anyway within the labyrinth of coral.  
  
Down here, under the waves, it looked beautiful. The coral glowed a brilliant pink and green and red and every other color there was of coral. The sand far below them was a fine white color.  
  
But there was something missing...  
  
"Yeah," Crash answered his sister. "Reefs are supposed to be full of life. Where is all the fish?"  
  
Coco glanced about. She spotted a few fish dart into shelter. She saw the red eyes of a moray eel slowly shrink back deeper into its grotto. "Hiding. They are all in hiding Crash."  
  
Crash looked about too and saw more instances of creatures darting for cover. "The whole waters surrounding these islands seem frightened. What could be going on?"  
  
A shadow fell over the bandicoots. They glanced up to see what it was. In a native canoe, were Papu-Papu and two native rowers. Papu seemed to be saying something, his lips moving silently, when he held a dead pig out over the water.  
  
"They are making a sacrifice," Coco observed. "To make the seas normal again. Thankfully, we aren't the sacrifice this time!"  
  
Crash snorted then noticed as blood dripped from the carcass in Papu's hands. "Uh, Coco... isn't there a creature that is attracted by blood?"  
  
"Sharks!" Coco panicked at the sudden thought. "A feeding frenzy of sharks. We gotta get moving!"  
  
But, before Papu dropped the pig into the water, one of the natives pointed in a direction, seeming to shout something. At once, they got rowing, Papu hurled the pig in that direction and the canoe was gone in a few seconds.  
  
"What was that about?" Crash asked.  
  
Then, from the murky blue, a shape appeared. It swam up to the pig and swallowed it in a single bite. It grinned and approached Crash and Coco. "A wild pig for starters, a male bandicoot for a main and a girl for dessert... sounds lovely..." the black and white face grinned, a female's voice.  
  
Crash and Coco stared at the killer whale in shock. It was so large and powerful, jaws riddled with razor canine teeth and two large energy cannons were fixed to its back.  
  
Coco swallowed at took a stand. "We know that you're being controlled. You must fight it! You're not a slave. Fight it and free your-self!"  
  
The killer whale stared in disbelief for a few seconds, before bursting into a fit of laughter. "You foolish creatures. The harnesses do not control me. No, the delphine and sharkian kinds are, but I am not. I work on my own accord."  
  
"But, why are you allied to Cortex?" Crash asked.  
  
"Who?" the killer whale asked.  
  
"Don't you know who's behind this?" Coco questioned.  
  
The killer whale shook her head. "I know not. I never saw his face, just his voice." Crash nodded slightly to Coco. "But if you must know why, I chose to so I can become Queen of the World's Seas. All creatures in the sea will bow to me, Okura." Her greedy eyes then fell upon Crash and Coco in the way Tina eyed a meal. "And now, all this talking has made me VERY hungry..." Her tongue licked her licks.  
  
"Uh, Crash," Coco muttered. "What now?"  
  
"Turbo Fans Activate!" Crash screamed, as he pressed a button on the mask. Two large fans at the base of his air tanks erupted and he began to shoot though the bandicoot water like a torpedo. Coco was mere seconds behind him.  
  
There was a roar of rage and a few energy shots fired that blew nearby coral to bits, but the monster Okura chose not to give chase. She simply took her time.  
  
Crash and Coco both did not stop jetting with their air tanks for quite some time until the ground opened up beneath them. The reason they stopped was as a reaction to what lay before them.  
  
An underwater base. Two main buildings, a large tower and a few other half constructed buildings.  
  
"Wow," was all Coco had to say.  
  
After a moment, Crash noticed dolphins and sharks working. They were working to build the buildings, and tirelessly. All wore the harness that Gleam had wore.  
  
Then, a dolphin swam past them, ignoring them completely, another harness that looked as if it held items was lashed across its body. Coco started after it, but Crash grabbed her. "It's not her," he said.  
  
"What do you mean?" Coco asked. "It's Gleam!"  
  
"No," Crash answered simply. "She's being controlled again. It's not the Gleam we know. If we distract her, she could raise an alarm or something."  
  
Coco nodded, understanding Crash's logic. She stared down at the city being constructed. "Right Crash, we'll cover more ground if we split up. You take the building to the left, I'll take the one on the right. We meet at that tower in two hours time."  
  
Crash gave her the thumbs up. "Let's keep a low profile. I'll see you in two hours Coco."  
  
And then both bandicoots split up, heading their different ways. 


	3. A Horrific Discovery

Chapter Three  
  
A Horrific Discovery  
  
Coco cautiously peeked her head out of the water. She was in an area that housed a few mini submarines and what looked like a half constructed war machine.   
  
There was no one around. She was safe.  
  
Climbing out of the water, Coco slowly pulled her gear off and hid it behind some refuse at the edge of the pier to the war machine. Barefoot and decked in her wetsuit, Coco glanced around once more, before she slowly slipped down into the corridors to explore this facility.  
  
'If I can find a computer,' she thought to her-self. 'I can perhaps hack into Cortex's plans to understand what is truly going on here.'  
  
The corridor opened to a large window looking out into the water. Coco glanced out and shrieked in terror at what she saw.  
  
Okura the killer whale watched her, with hungry intelligent eyes.  
  
Leaning against the back wall, her heart thumping like crazy in her chest, Coco stared in shock at the massive beast as it idled there, watching her. After a few minutes, it simply swam upwards and disappeared completely.  
  
Coco blinked in confusion, then remembered. Killer whales were mammals and mammals needed to breathe sooner or later. She seized the chance to run past the large windowed area and straight into the next room at the end of the corridor.  
  
Again, Coco's heart leapt into her mouth in shock. A dozen Lab Assistant Androids were working in this room, all on computer consoles. These androids had a habit of dropping all their work to come after Crash and Coco when they were seen, but this time; the robots completely ignored her. They didn't even lift their glasses, which concealed their metallic eyes to look at her.  
  
There was a door on the far side, with the words 'Keep Out. Do Not Enter. Authorized Personnel Only' sketched heavily on the metal doors. Coco decided to risk it to get over there a see what was behind the door.  
  
Boldly venturing out, the androids ignored her. Coco decided not to wait too long and broke into a dash to the door. Again, no movement from the robots. The lanky androids simply carried on with their work on the computer consoles.  
  
Shrugging, Coco looked at the keypad on the door. It was a pin-code door. Snorting at the very basics of this, Coco carefully pulled the top off the machine, undoing the screws with her hairpin, and then began to fiddle around with the circuitry underneath.  
  
Then, replacing everything back into place, Coco simply tapped the 'Enter' key and the doors slid wide open for her as she strolled in, a healthy dose of self-esteem added. From the inside, she then shut the doors and locked them.  
  
She was in a small room. There was a large pool of water at the far end, the water rippling slightly, but nothing was in them. It looked as if they were connected to the outside, but Coco wasn't a hundred percent sure.  
  
But, there was a computer and a chair. Without hesitation, Coco swung over there and switched the machine on, ready to do her stuff.  
  
There was a puffing sound. Coco snapped her head in the direction of the sound. She scanned the room, looking for anything, but nothing moved but the water's surface in the pools.  
  
Shaking her head, Coco turned back to the computer, turning her back to the pools once again. Then, her fingers erupted suddenly into a fury of typing. Time flew by; Coco didn't take note of the time it took, until at last, she has full access.  
  
"The Sea Plot," Coco read aloud. Another puffing and Coco turned again.   
  
Nothing again.   
  
Frightened as she was beginning to lose her mind, she worryingly turned back to the plot outline. "An old saying says, 'He who would control the sea, controls the world.' We shall put this plan into effect. By controlling the sea life, we shall halt all sea routes by man until we are granted world domination."  
  
Coco pondered this for a moment. It seemed to make sense indeed. If Cortex controlled all sea life, then the seas would no longer be safe. But how were they being controlled?  
  
"The harnesses were created to control all dolphin and shark's thoughts, other than their basic needs to survive. The tower sends out waves that make the dolphins mind slaves. A shark is all too easy to control, other than their feeding frenzy instincts but a dolphin has strong family ties, therefore, a dolphin must not see its young or there is a chance that the dolphin will break out of the trance. Therefore, all young must be swiftly terminated. The bodies are then used to feed the sharks."  
  
Coco gasped in horror and covered her mouth in shock. There were images of the slaughtered babies, some decapitated, while others cut completely in half and gutted. She grabbed the metal bin that was there and vomited into it.  
  
This was sick. Cortex had gone completely off the edge here, killing innocent young dolphins for his domination attempt? She felt like killing him her-self for this.  
  
Then Gleam came to Coco's mind. Gleam had mentioned her daughter. Was this daughter still alive, or was one of those photos her? She closed this document, feeling like throwing up again, and opened the search file. Carefully, Coco typed in the word 'Gleam.'  
  
One hit came up.  
  
Clicking it, Coco received a profile of the dolphin Gleam.  
  
Slave - 042 - Real Name - Gleam  
  
Leader of the N. Sanity Beach Pod.  
  
Known as rebellious. Is able to fight the control and break free regularly. Also seems to help others to break free of the trance. Daughter Delphi is to be kept in isolation, until termination date is confirmed.  
  
Due to last escape attempt, she is assigned to Nitro blasting duty.  
  
"Nitro blasting?" Coco asked, clicking the link. "Nitro blasting is the most dangerous work we have, but the most important as we require the gem-stones below the ground to fuel our mind control tower. It has a strong potential for the blasters to die. Live Nitro is placed into harnesses and the dolphin/shark will swim over the blasting site, dropping the load of Nitro and..." Coco froze as she read the rest.  
  
This was truly beyond evil. This plan must be stopped. Already, in three days, Nitro blasting had killed over fifty creatures alone.  
  
Then, she typed in the word 'Delphi' into the search engine. One hit came up and Coco opened it swiftly, hoping that the information was updated regularly.  
  
Dolphin Child - Delphi  
  
Daughter of Gleam.  
  
Must be terminated soon. Gleam's main power comes from her love for her daughter, and with no daughter left, Gleam will be a mindless slave forever.  
  
Coco gasped. The termination date was today! In less than two hours! She had to find this Delphi quickly before it was too late.  
  
Pushing her chair backwards, Coco wheeled around and leapt from the chair.  
  
She stepped in a pool of water lying on the edge of the pool and her legs flew out from under her. A sickening crack was heard as her head struck the concrete pool edge and she began to sink beneath the water in the pool.  
  
Her dying sight was of a black and white killer whale charging her, jaws at the ready...  
  
Crash emerged in a room with a single submarine. By the look of it, it was one of importance, so Crash assumed it belonged to Cortex and Uka-Uka.  
  
Stripping off his gear, Crash laid it to the side of the door and opened the door. The corridor seemed to go for a while. Boldly moving through the corridor, suddenly the floor opened up beneath him. Crash fell into a chute, and cursed him-self for falling for such an obvious trap as he slid down it.  
  
With a bumpy landing, Crash landed in a room. Before he got up he heard, "Well, well, well... If it isn't Crash Bandicoot..."  
  
Glancing up, Crash saw a huge armchair with its back to him as undoubtedly, Neo Cortex sat watching the window to the outside. "Alright Cortex! I've got you alone this time!"  
  
A deep laugh was heard from the chair and then the chair turned around.  
  
"You?!?" Crash gasped in shock and disbelief. 


	4. The Mastermind

Chapter Four  
  
The Mastermind  
  
A bright pink head with a wicked toothy grin, connected to a metallic cylinder, with a metal arm and hand and a claw on the other arm. Two short legs. A spiral attached to the front of the body.  
  
Dr. N. Trance, the Master of Hypnotism.  
  
"What's the matter Crash?" Trance mocked. "Do I disappoint you? Were you expecting that fool Neo to be the mastermind of this operation, but found out it was I? Oh, boo hoo..." The egg shaped creature burst into a fit of laughter. Crash stared in disbelief, his word moving but making no sound as N. Trance continued, "You see Crash, who else better than me to make mind slaves out of these pathetic creatures than me, the Master of Hypnotism? They are useless creatures, these dolphins. Smart yes, but useless. They lack all weapons to fight. These sharks though... They are much more worthy, they can cause serious damage."  
  
At last, Crash found his voice. "But... but where is Cortex?"  
  
N. Trance burst into another fit of laughter. "That fool! He is being punished by our master Uka-Uka because he did not have the guts to carry out this mission. 'We can't just kill their babies,' he whined like one him-self. 'It's wrong. It's too much.' Pah! I care not for these stupid creatures. I, in fact, am the one who cuts off the little baby dolphins..." He held up his claw hand and the claw retracted and a more vicious, guillotine-like claw emerged, bloodstained. "In fact, I have an appointment with a wee one named Delphi in a little while I believe..."  
  
Crash stared in disbelief and he began to back away. "You're a monster Trance. Cortex at least, is part human, but you..."  
  
"Emotion is a weakness!" N. Trance shouted suddenly, his voice reaching a pitch of rage Crash had never seen before. "That is why I reign over that fool Neo! And it is why I shall end up as Uka-Uka's right hand man while that idiot Neo is used as my jester!" The bloodstained claw retracted and the regular claw reappeared in its rightful place. "Now get over here!"  
  
Turning, Crash leapt to escape, but N. Trance's claw snagged his mid-section and drew Crash back towards him. "Now look into my eyes Crash," Trance ordered as his eyes glowed a deep yellow.  
  
"Yes," Crash answered as he began to fall under Trance's control, his pupils shrinking. "Look."  
  
"Now listen to me Crash," Trance continued, an evil smirk across his face, showing his pointed teeth. "You will go back to where you came from and you will put back on your scuba gear. You will then go to the Nitro warehouse and collect a Nitro harness and proceed to the blasting site. But, you will not simply drop the Nitro. No, you shall go down to the center of the crater and wait. You shall wait until another dolphin drops Nitro upon you, causing one massive explosion. Understand?"  
  
"Yes master," Crash answered, his eyes completely whitened.  
  
N. Trance sat Crash back on the ground and watched as the bandicoot promptly made his way to the door, heading for his doom by his own two feet.  
  
The hypnotic master threw him-self upon his chair and roared with laughter.  
  
"Uuuuhhhhh..." Coco moaned as she slowly began to awake. Her head hurt badly. She slowly sat up upon the wet concrete she lay upon. She could not remember much at...  
  
Suddenly it all came back to her. She'd slipped into the pool knocking her-self out. And then, Okura had charged her, about to eat her in a bite...  
  
But if that was the case, who'd saved her?  
  
"She's awake!" a young voice cried. Coco turned to see a young dolphin in the pool next to her. "You okay? That was a nasty slip you had."  
  
"I think so," Coco groaned as she saw the young dolphin clearly. A sudden jolt of hope entered her body, like an electric shock. "Are... are you Delphi?"  
  
"Uh huh," the young female smiled. "That's my name."  
  
"And your mother is Gleam right?" Coco asked again. At once, she regretted saying that. Delphi's eyes began to well and the young dolphin started to snivel in unhappiness. "Hey, hey," Coco gently cooed to the child. "I'm sorry..."  
  
"I haven't seen her for days," the baby struggled out as she began to sob. "She hasn't come back for me, and she always has before… I want to see her again..."  
  
Coco sighed and stood up as Delphi began to sob uncontrollably. It was horrible what was going on here. Delphi was kept here, awaiting her execution and all she wanted was to see her mother. This had to be stopped.  
  
Then, Coco spotted something moving in the pool below the surface. A creature of black and white moving towards Delphi. Okura was going to kill the baby! "Delphi! Quick! Get moving and I'll try to find you a way out!"  
  
"W...what is it?" Delphi stammered having stopped her tears flowing.  
  
"It's..." Coco began, but suddenly the young dolphin was swiftly pulled under the water. "Delphi!" Coco cried, as the little one was no more.  
  
In shock, Coco fell to her knees at this horror. She couldn't believe it... She just couldn't...  
  
"Oh, bugger off!" Delphi's voice snapped in anger. Coco's head snapped up to see Delphi floating beside a killer whale. But, this killer whale was much smaller compared to Okura. In fact, it was a child killer whale as well! It had a nifty look of how its eyes were surrounded by the white eye patch. "I'm not in the mood for games!" Delphi snapped angrily, her sorrow gone.  
  
"Uh, who are you?" Coco stammered at the killer whale.  
  
"Don't you recognize your savior?" It barked in a male tone voice. "I saved you from drowning in the pool and you don't remember me?" It shook its head in a mocking way. "I'm Spot."  
  
"Err, pleased to meet you. And you too Delphi. I don't believe I've introduced my-self, I'm Coco," she smiled. Then, she noticed Spot was wearing a harness weapon similar to the one that Okura wore. "Hey, those weapons..."  
  
Spot smiled and butted in, "The same model as my mother wears."  
  
Coco bit her lip to say no more to this. She'd not only found Gleam's child, but Okura's as well.  
  
Then, she remembered the curfew for her and Crash. Checking her watch, it was two hours and ten minutes since she and Crash had split. She had to get to the meeting place, but she couldn't leave these two like this, so that they could be butchered. "Hey, is there a door, gate or something down there?" Coco asked.  
  
"Yeah," Spot nodded, "But we can't open it."  
  
"Maybe I can," Coco said, eyeing the computer console she'd used earlier. Swinging the chair back, she started hacking again, searching for the way to open the door in the water. It wasn't that heavily encoded at all. Coco shrugged, guessing that Cortex did not expect anyone to be here.  
  
Shaking her head, Coco swiftly unlocked the door below and turned back to Delphi and Spot. "Okay you two, off you go, you're free."  
  
"Not so fast!" A voice barked behind her. Turning, Coco saw N. Trance standing there, an evil frown across his face. "It's feeding time for the sharks and a certain little dolphin is on the menu. Although, they may not mind a side order of bandicoot either..." He raised up his claw arm, a sharper, more sinister claw in its place than his usual claw. "I'll have to deal with you as I did with your brother..."  
  
"What did you do to Crash?" Coco snapped, her eyes suddenly blazing.  
  
"Oh nothing... yet," Trance grinned madly. "I merely 'persuaded' him to help out with the Nitro blasting. You can help too you know," Trance's eyes began to glow yellow.  
  
Coco took no chances. She knew she only had seconds to act, before Trance stole her mind. She took a deep breath and leapt into the water behind her. Trance's claw flew over her and hit the water as she sunk, seconds after; the chain retracted the claw back. Then, Coco noticed Delphi offering her dorsal fin to Coco. She grabbed hold of it in a flash.  
  
As the young dolphin shot up and out of the water in a jump, Coco took an even bigger breath and prepared her-self to hold her breath for a while. Then, Delphi dived to the bottom of the pool and shot towards the opposite wall.  
  
The doors were closing; Trance had set them to close again. Delphi pumped her tail as hard as she could go. It was gonna be close!  
  
The door slammed shut, seconds after Coco and Delphi shot through. Spot was waiting for them already there. Coco knew she couldn't hold her breath for too much longer. She tapped Delphi's head to get her attention and drew a circle and pointed to the building.  
  
"Go round to the other side?" Delphi asked, her speech slightly blurred by the water.  
  
Coco nodded, and the dolphin took off at once, knowing Coco couldn't hold her breath for too long, Spot was right behind them. They arrived at the hanger Coco had stashed her scuba gear and Coco pointed in the hanger.  
  
Delphi entered and headed for the surface. Coco broke the surface and gasped deeply at the fresh air. It never felt so good in all her life.  
  
Then, she heard the sound of approaching clanking. N. Trance was coming this way! She took another breath and dived under again. She swam, with Spot and Delphi by her side towards the half completed war ship. She resurfaced cautiously and looked around. She saw N. Trance climbing into a small submarine that hadn't been here before.  
  
She was safe for the moment. Climbing out of the water, she found her scuba gear and quickly put it on and leapt back in. By this time, Trance and the submarine had gone. She flicked a switch on her mask and said to Spot and Delphi, "We need to get to the Nitro blasting site quickly or my brother will be blown to pieces! Will you help me?"  
  
"On to it!" Spot answered, giving a wide orca grin.  
  
"Take my fin again," Delphi told Coco, offering it to her again. "We'll go much faster this way."  
  
Crash approached the Nitro blasting site; a harness attached to him carrying six glass cylinders full of a green liquid. Raw nitroglycerine.  
  
A dolphin ahead of him swam over a patch of coral to a large crater and dropped its load of Nitro into the crater. There was an explosion and then the dolphin swam off and Crash moved forward.  
  
"Wait," he said as he dived into the crater. "Wait in crater."  
  
As he touched the bottom and began to wait, Coco, Delphi and Spot arrived and saw him. Coco let go of Delphi and dived down to him. "Crash? Crash, snap out of it!" she pleaded to him.  
  
"Wait," Crash murmured in reply.  
  
"Come on Crash!" Coco pleaded. "You can fight it!"  
  
"Wait."  
  
"Please Crash! Do it for me!"  
  
"Wait."  
  
Coco grabbed Crash's head and was about to shake some sense into him, when she remembered the Nitro attached to his body. Indeed she thrust her eyes to lock onto Crash's pupil-less eyes. "Look at me Crash! Do you know who I am?"  
  
"Coco!"  
  
"What?" she turned her head to face Spot. "What is it?"  
  
"A dolphin is coming this way! Ready to blast!" The killer whale answered.  
  
"You two try to hold them off for a bit more time!" She shouted back.  
  
"Coco..."  
  
"What?" Coco snapped back to Crash. A tiny black pupil had appeared in each eye. "Yes! Yes! It's me Crash! Remember? Coco?"  
  
Crash blinked once, twice and then... "Coco?"  
  
"Yes!" Coco shrieked in triumphant joy. "You're back!"  
  
"Where was I?" Crash asked, confused.  
  
"Never mind, I'll explain it later! We got to get out of here. This is the Nitro blasting site and you've got live Nitro on your-self!"  
  
"I do?" Crash asked, his face screwed up in fear. "Then lets get going!"  
  
Both ascended up a safe distance, before Crash unclipped the harness and let it drop into the crater. There was an explosion and everything then went quiet.  
  
"Hey! Coco!" Spot's voice called out from behind them. "Look who we found!"  
  
Both bandicoots turned and Coco, at once, felt her heart melt. 


	5. H2 OhNo

Chapter Five  
  
H2 Oh-No  
  
Little Delphi was nuzzling up next to a dolphin that Coco recognized as Gleam. She remembered the document on the computers that the sight of their young often broke the dolphins out of the trance that they were in. In a way, Coco wished she now remembered her mother, but her past life had been erased after she'd been exposed to the Evolv-O-Ray  
  
"Coco," Crash said beside her as he watched the sight in awe. "Neither Cortex nor Uka-Uka are here. Trance is running the whole operation. They are slaughtering the dolphin's young as well."  
  
"I know the bit about the dolphin young, but Trance the mastermind?" She paused to think. "I think I know how we can get them all to break out of their trances," Coco answered. "That tower back at the base. It is what controls them all. We destroy the tower, we destroy their plans."  
  
"But how can we destroy the tower?" Crash asked.  
  
"I can help," Gleam said as she approached them, having listened into their conversation. "We dolphins have very good hearing, so I heard every word you said. I will help you out. It's the least I can do for you reuniting me with my daughter. If we can break the Nitro blaster dolphins out of their trances, would that amount of Nitro be sufficient?"  
  
Coco imagined it for a moment. A bunch of Nitro blasted upon the tower, would it destroy it? "Yes, it could just work."  
  
Gleam nodded and then let out a loud cry of summons. She paused and turned to Delphi and Spot, "Help me please you two." Then all three cried out the same melody.  
  
Then, a reply was heard. Eleven dolphins, all wearing Nitro harnesses made their way to them all. Gleam then addressed them, "Pod-mates and fellow dolphins, we have been enslaved and exploited by an evil in this base. We must stop this once and for all." She stared at the group. "Sparkle, Flash and Dazzle, I am sad to say..." Gleam's words caught in her mouth. "Your calves have been slaughtered by this evil, as to any other mothers that are present." Five dolphins at once looked down, tears beginning to well. "But now is not the time to mourn! We will mourn all those lost as soon as we defeat this evil once and for all!"  
  
"How do we do this?" another dolphin asked.  
  
Gleam's eyes flashed dangerously. "We use their own weapons against them! These explosive cylinders you carry, we use them to destroy the tower in the base. Then, all of the dolphin-kind will ally them-selves with us against this menace."  
  
"Let's do this," the dolphin Dazzle snarled. "They'll pay for what they did to my Marlin."  
  
"And to Urchin!"  
  
"And Star!"  
  
"We'll do it for all the ones we have lost! Young and old alike!" Gleam shouted. "Now, lets take back our freedom!"  
  
"Let me help!" Spot added. "I may be no more than a child, but I can help with these weapons!"  
  
Gleam nodded, "Indeed, young killer, you may aid us in this time of darkness! We need all the help we can get to overcome this menace."  
  
N. Trance paced around in worry in his room. He'd found no sign of that female bandicoot, and he knew she must've drowned out there somewhere, so she wasn't a threat any more. And Crash had surely been blown into tiny little pieces by now.  
  
But then, why did he feel so worried?  
  
A loud explosion from outside was heard and Trance rushed to the window to see. He screamed in horror at the sight of his control tower collapsing. "Oh no! Uka-Uka's going to be furious!"  
  
Suddenly, a dolphin appeared at the window. Gleam, the dolphin Trance had the most trouble with. She glared at him and then several over dolphins appeared, including the young one Trance was supposed to kill and Okura's son. They all drew back and let loose a powerful song.  
  
Large cracks spread across the window from the impact of the song. The creatures all hurried away after they'd achieved this. N. Trance's eyes widened in horror and he turned to flee.  
  
With a loud explosion, the window shattered and water gushed into the room. Trance was instantly washed away, overcome by the force of tons of water entering the room.  
  
"All right! This is working!" Crash shouted as the plan was a success. Trance's plan was washed away and the tower destroyed, meaning that all the dolphins and sharks would now be awaking from their trances.  
  
Coco and Delphi smiled as they watched the work.  
  
"Hello again," a voice hissed behind them.  
  
Turning in shock, all three saw the mighty bulk of Okura smiling down at them. Coco grabbed Crash's hand and then Delphi's fin with her free hand to flee the beast.  
  
But, she lost her grip of Crash and he fell backwards towards Okura. "Crash!" she shrieked as Delphi kept going in fright and Crash turned to see the open jaws of Okura surround him.  
  
Standing on her tongue, Crash used his arms to hold up the upper jaw up and prevent it from crushing him into fodder. An evil chuckle was heard. "You realize bandicoot," Okura snarled. "I am merely toying with you. I can easily crush you in a second."  
  
"Let him go!" a voice barked. Okura turned her eye to see her son, Spot. "He's my friend mother!"  
  
"You! I thought I'd told the leader to make you into a slave!" Okura hissed in spite at her son.  
  
"What?" Spot answered, his eyes wide in shock. "You... you would do that to me?"  
  
"Yes I would," Okura snarled. He looked at the look of anger on her son's face. "What are you going to do you weakling? Kill me with those weapons of yours? You don't have the guts to do that do you? That's why I told him to make you a mindless killing machine!"  
  
Spot glared at his mother and then relaxed. "You want to eat Crash? Fine. Go ahead."  
  
"What?" Crash shouted.  
  
"But eat this first!" Spot shouted as he fired his weapons at his mother, using all the power in his rage, heart and body to fuel the blast.  
  
Okura laughed at the small scratch on her side seeping blood. "After all that, you miss?"  
  
Spot glared angrily at his mother, weakened from firing the blast. "I didn't actually..." And then, the young killer passed out.  
  
Suddenly, attracted by the scent of fresh blood, all the sharks, freed from their trances rushed at Okura, lost to the madness of the feeding frenzy. Okura shrieked as the sharks dragged down her body.  
  
Crash felt the pressure release as Okura shrieked, seized the chance to escape and hurried over to Spot and out of the frenzied attack. The young killer was unconscious from the effort that firing the shot had upon him. "Someone give me a hand here!"  
  
Two dolphins hurried over and nodded to Crash, carrying the young killer to the surface so he would not drown. Then, Crash turned his attention towards Okura.  
  
The killer whale was fighting the sharks with all of her strength. They tore at her flesh, and she tore them in half. It looked as if neither side would win.   
  
Then, "Air..." Okura gasped as her lungs began to burn. She tried to ascend but the sharks wouldn't let her, continuing their attack. For several more minutes, the waters became more bloodied and the fighting more fierce, Okura's eyes rolling around in her head as she panted and moaned for air.  
  
"Help me..." she begged to Crash, her eyes pleading.  
  
Crash was torn. Help Okura or not? Risk getting chomped for someone who'd tried to chomp him?  
  
But, before he made up his mind, fate took control.  
  
The more sharks that she killed, the more of Okura they attacked until, her body collapsed from blood loss and lack of oxygen. The sharks swarmed upon her. There was nothing more Crash could do. He swiftly left the area, before the sharks attacked him and headed to the others, who were waiting for him, having watched the bloody battle from a distance, with widened eyes.  
  
Crash glanced at the flooded remains of the building before them all. "Do you think we got him? Trance I mean..."  
  
"Looks like it," Gleam began.  
  
Suddenly, from under the rubble, N. Trance appeared. His arms were replaced with some deadly looking weapons, including a buzz saw blade and an energy blaster. "We finish this now!" he screamed at the group in front of him. He laughed and cried in barely controlled rage, "The group of you four alone! Hah! This will be all too easy!"  
  
"But we are not alone," Gleam answered simply. She let out a cry and then dolphins appeared from everywhere. Trance's face fell at the sight of hundreds of angry dolphins, all wanting revenge for what he had done to them. He began to back away in fright as the dolphins all approached, a thirst for vengeance flooding their eyes. Then, he realized even more were behind him.  
  
He was trapped! There was no escape! The dolphin drew back, ready to pounce upon the egg shaped menace and finish him off.  
  
"ENOUGH!" A voice roared.  
  
The dark mask Uka-Uka appeared before them and everyone froze at the arrival of the ultimate evil. He was incensed beyond belief, venting so much evil energy and his eyes full of red rage. "M...master," N. Trance stammered in fright at the appearance of Uka-Uka. He was now down on a bended knee to the dark master. "I tried..."  
  
"I do not accept failure from Cortex Trance! And neither from you!" Uka-Uka roared. "You shall be punished for this! To the black abyss!"  
  
"No! Please no! Not isolation!" Trance begged.  
  
Uka-Uka's eyes then fired a green blast at Trance and the egg shaped evil screamed as his body was warped painfully into another dimension. "And now you! The cause of all this trouble," Uka-Uka snarled at Gleam, who simply glared back, proving she had no fear. "I shall take away what you hold dear as your punishment!"  
  
Firing a shot of red from his eyes, Delphi screamed as the beams aimed directly for her.   
  
But, they never hit Delphi. Gleam shot between them and took the full blast. Gleam's body exploded into shimmering stars and Delphi screamed, "Nooooooooo!"  
  
Crash and Coco in horror and rage rushed at Uka-Uka. The mask then roared and a magical net appeared that entangled them. "I'll deal with you two soon," the mask hissed as he turned back to Delphi.  
  
Crash and Coco closed their eyes, knowing there was no escape for her this time.  
  
Seconds past and a painful cry was heard from Uka-Uka and both bandicoots opened their eyes to see Uka-Uka, part of his mask burnt. Turning to Delphi, a ghostly Gleam stood between them and her. A fiery determination to protect her young, even death could not stop. The ghost then faded away and Uka-Uka tried again, the ghost reappearing to deflect the blast back at the mask of evil before fading.  
  
"You see Uka-Uka," another voice began. Aku-Aku having appeared on the scene to confront his evil twin brother. "Gleam has sacrificed her-self to save her daughter from you. Even after death, this sacrifice will protect her from your wrath." The evil mask growled in anger. "Gleam's love for her daughter is greater than even your powers dear brother."  
  
"Love," Uka-Uka spat. "A foolish weak feeling."  
  
"Maybe so, but its power has been what has defeated you." Aku-Aku answered. "Your plans are defeated for today. Leave now."  
  
Uka-Uka stood there for a moment, in confusion, before he burst out laughing. "Here is your chance to kill me and you decide to let me go! You are a greater fool than I thought!"  
  
"I simply feel," Aku-Aku began. "For your sins, death is not a punishment, but a release. For your misdeeds, you require something much more fitting."  
  
"You will regret this decision you've made! Mark my words!" Uka-Uka roared. Then in a flash of red light, he was gone and the only sound was Delphi's sobbing.  
  
Crash and Coco stood on the shores of N. Sanity Beach, watching the sun set. Aku-Aku was floating beside them. The waters were at last free once again. "Well, no point staying round here," Coco suggested. "Let's head back to our home."  
  
Then, "Hey, you guys!"  
  
Spot and Delphi were coming towards them, bouncing through the waves. Crash and Coco waded into the slightly deeper waters to meet them.  
  
"Hey you two!" Crash smiled as he rubbed the smooth skin of Spot, the weapon harness removed from his body. "Come to say goodbye?"  
  
"Nah," Spot shook his head. "We've said our good-byes."  
  
"Mother told me long ago, I must do what is right in order to help those in need as her daughter," Delphi told them as Coco stroked her dorsal. "Then, if we help you guys, we are doing something good. I want to fight alongside you."  
  
"As with me," Spot added, a wide grin on his face.  
  
Crash and Coco smiled at this request as they rubbed the cetaceans down with their paws. Now they had a polar bear, a tiger, a t-rex, two dragons and a dolphin and killer whale. Their family was growing larger with each new mission.  
  
"Welcome to the family," Aku-Aku smiled.  
  
END 


End file.
